


safe under covers

by Aerora



Category: Dangan Ronpa - All Media Types, Dangan Ronpa: Another Episode
Genre: F/F, Gen, slow gay baby awakening
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-09
Updated: 2015-12-09
Packaged: 2018-05-05 18:09:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,309
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5385470
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aerora/pseuds/Aerora
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Turns out that hours and hours of trying not to get murdered by robotic bears will wear you out, no matter how well-rested you were when you started. Who'd have known?</p>
            </blockquote>





	safe under covers

Before you make it more than a couple hundred feet from the subway exit, you realize this isn't going to work.

For one, you've gone the wrong way - somehow, the two of you got completely turned around. It takes you a second to recognize it, but these are definitely the buildings that you'd seen around the entrance to the subway.

Just behind you, Toko seems like she's coming to the same realization - out of the corner of your eye, you can see her come to a halt and squint up at the sky through her glasses. 

"Hey, Omaru," she says, after a moment. "Haven't we been here before?"

You slump. You'd been hoping that you were wrong, and the city just all looked the same to you, but if Toko sees it too.... "I think... maybe, I got turned around somehow?"

It's so late it's almost early, the polluted sky already starting to get that diffused-glow predawn look to it, and despite the two-day-long nap you apparently took after the riots, you feel like you've been awake for a week.

That's probably not a good sign, though it might explain how you'd managed to go _backwards_. You think you remember one of Makoto's superhero manga talking about how a lot of shock can wear you out, right? Maybe that only happens in manga, and the only reason it's so hard for you to keep your eyes open is how late it is. But there are no restaurants left that aren't filled with murderous bears, and you don't have any change that the vending machines here will take, if they even still work.

Maybe the two of you can find a safe place to crash for a few hours, somewhere devoid of murderous Monokumas and creepy kids and bloody corpses. You'd settle for two out of three, at this point. Some of the hotel rooms had looked pretty secure, especially if you barricaded the doors, but...

How do you even _get_ to the hotel from here? You squint up at the skyline hopefully, twisting around, but nothing's familiar - you've gone far enough that there's nothing that was visible from your apartment-prison. Nothing you remember as particularly safe-looking on the way back from the bridge, either.

One look at Toko makes up your mind, though; she's practically asleep on her feet. (Not that you aren't, as well. You never thought you'd miss the weird lumpy pillows you'd slept on for the last year and a half, but you'd trade all these dumb Monocoins for the chance to sleep on them right about now.) Honestly, the fact that she hasn't already managed to make fun of you for getting lost would be a dead giveaway, if it weren't for everything else. You stifle a yawn, turning back the way you came.

"Well, c'mon, already," she says, shifting uncomfortably. "What happened to moving forward? We can't just stand here much longer, they're gonna send Monokumas after us," which, well. You can't argue with that. And her voice has an exhausted note at its edge that you're pretty sure wasn't there before. Can she even sleep, or will her other side just come out? You decide you're too tired to care. Maybe she can stand guard while you nap.

"Look at us, Toko," you say, shoving the hacking gun back into the holster mounted on the back of your skirt. "We're gonna fall asleep in the middle of the road if we don't find somewhere to hide for a while. Just a couple hours..."

You're expecting an argument, _'it's too dangerous'_ or _'if we stop it's going to be a pain to get you going again'_ or, well, anything, but she just chews on her finger for a moment and nods, slowly. "Y-you're right," she tells you, glancing around. "So, got any ideas?"

You beam, just a little - the idea of getting off your feet is just _that_ appealing right now. "I was thinking... maybe one of the subway cars?" you ask. "A lot of them have rubble blocking half of them off already, and we could, I don't know, rip the cushions off the seats or something..."

One of the pins in her hair is threatening to escape entirely. You kind of want to smooth it back and replace it, for some reason. (That might not go over so well. Toko seems like she's not the type who likes other people touching her much. The thought sticks with you anyway.) She's doing that thing where she fiddles with the frayed edges of her necktie, the one that you've come to learn means she's lost in thought but not as worried about it as she could be. "No, there's too many windows," she decides. "Any of the kids pass by, they'd see us right away. And we shouldn't rely on any of them _wanting_ to help us..."

"Right," you say, with a sigh. "You didn't happen to see any doors that looked like broom closets on our way up, did you?" She shakes her head, frown growing a little bit. You mirror her expression, spinning on your heel to look up at the darkened buildings again. There's something in the opposite direction from the bridge that catches your eye. "Hey, is it just me, or do those look like apartment buildings?" You point to a taller-than-the-rest cluster, one that can't be more than a few blocks away. "Even if there's Monokumas all over it, we'll destroy them and block the door. And then, later... back to the subway?"

"That... c-could actually work," Toko allows, looking up at them. "Alright, I'm game if you are. I... could use a nap." She pushes her glasses back up onto her nose, and lets go of her bedraggled necktie.

"C'mon, Toko!" You punch the air, triumphantly. "Nothing's gonna stand between us and naptime!"

"... You don't have to put it like _that_ ," Toko tells you with a little bit of an edge to her voice, but she follows you anyway, one hand on the stun gun in case you need her other self's assistance.

The walk there is _almost_ uneventful - there are a few less Monokumas around up here than there were in the subway. Maybe the kids meant for you to go a different direction.

They can deal with it for a few hours. Maybe they're already asleep. Do they still have bedtimes, even after murdering every adult they came across? Your mind's wandering in the way that it's prone to when you're this tired, and you nearly forget to peek around the corner before you walk into this alley's crossroads. It's only Toko grabbing the back of your shirt with a hissed " _Omaru_! Hey!" that stops you in time.

You jump, freezing in place, and notice for the first time the half-dozen Monokumas milling about the alleyway. They haven't spotted you yet, thankfully, but it's a close thing. You gulp, wide-eyed, and take a step back, turning to Toko, who lets go of your shirt like it's covered in blood or something.

"Thank you," you say, voice low. "I don't know what happened."

"Yeah, well," she says, not meeting your gaze, "Can't h-have you walking into an ambush and getting us killed."

"That'd be bear-y bad," you say in response, voice trembling. Toko sighs in the most aggrieved way she can manage. You flash her a shaky smile, turning back to look at the area ahead.

(They're not so hard to deal with, with Toko at your side.)

Before much longer, the two of you are standing at the doors of one of the larger high rises, hoping that this isn't a terrible idea. It looks about the same as the surrounding buildings. Maybe a little less bloody. Hopefully that's a good thing, and not a sign that they're under siege and about to be overrun.

You are not thinking about this. You push on the door, tentatively; it opens readily, and the two of you step inside. (You hold the door for Toko, because it's polite, but also at this point she looks so out of it that if you didn't you think she'd be in danger of colliding with the door.)

It's dark and quiet inside. No sign of life, not even any soft robotic whirring from a Monokuma. There are a few corpses strewn about the lobby, which is something that you're almost starting to get used to. 

"Looks alright," you say, keeping your voice down anyway. "How high should we go?"

"Second floor?" Toko says, after a moment of exhausted consideration. "No, third. Maybe we should block the stairwell, too, just in case." You nod, forging onward.

In the end, you don't bother with that - the doors up here are in good shape, and there's even an unlocked apartment, somehow. It's a small thing, just a living area and a bathroom, but that's good enough for tonight. "Sorry," you whisper to no one as you step into the entryway and kick off your shoes.

"Nevermind that," Toko tells you, already sizing up the room. "Let's move the desk over in front of the door first." 

Between the two of you, you manage to shove it into the way, wedging it just under the doorknob. You kneel, replacing one of the too-heavy drawers to give it more bulk. "What if we put that bookcase in front of the window? I don't _think_ anything can get up here, but..." One more thing not worth thinking about. The latest in a long line of them.

With the blinds down to hide the bookcase, and the bookcase firmly blocking the window, it's dark again. You hadn't turned the light on, since it was bright enough outside by now to get by, but you do it now.

"Do you want to keep watches?" you ask. "Or—" another yawn cuts you off. You're pretty sure you used up the last reserves of your energy with the furniture; all you want now is to sleep.

She shakes her head. "I don't think either of us are going to be much help if anything makes it in here, right now. Might as well just sleep." That's certainly not something you can argue with, so you raid the chest of drawers for extra blankets. You turn around, arms full of soft, fluffy goodness, to see her staring at you, askance. "What are you doing?"

You shift the blankets so they're not threatening to obscure your vision. "Making a bed? The futon's not big enough for two people, so..."

"What, y-you wanna share? With _me_?" There's something almost competitive in her tone, like she's daring you to say 'no, of course not, you're too much of a mess.' You shrug, instead.

"You can have the futon. I'll use these," you say, dropping them so you can unfold the biggest comforter properly. It's pretty thick, but your hips will probably be complaining come morning anyway. 

She snorts, chewing on her finger again. "W-we'll both be more comfortable if we share, right? Unless you think I'm too d-disgusting to share with..." She's definitely challenging you. Somehow, it doesn't feel quite the same as it did before, when she just wanted to think that you thought she was horrible.

It's a little hard to put your hands on your hips while also holding onto an oversized and mostly-unfolded blanket, but you manage. "Of course not, Toko!" It takes a little maneuvering, but working together, you manage to make a half-decent bed big enough for two people. There's just enough space between the two of you that it's a little bit awkward, but it's pretty comfortable. You pull the cord to turn the light off again and settle in, already feeling sleep approaching.

"Good night, Toko," you murmur to her, voice fuzzy, but her breathing has already steadied in sleep. She didn't even take her glasses off, you realize. You prop yourself up on one arm, carefully lifting them away from her face so she doesn't roll over and squish them in the night, or something. Your breath catches a little; she's pretty cute without them, even in the miniscule amount of light making it in from outside. Not that she isn't with the glasses on, but. Wow. Okay. Time to stop thinking and go to bed.

You place her glasses on the tiny bedside table that you can just reach without getting up, and roll over, steadfastly ignoring the heat in your face that means it's currently bright red.

Despite how exhausted you are, you don't fall asleep as fast as Toko managed to - your mind just keeps _going_ , a mile a minute, trying to make sense of all the things you've seen since your door got mutilated by a robotic bear. Still, you manage to drift off in reasonably short order.

You jerk awake, some time later - it's been a few hours, you think, since the scraps of sunlight that make it through the window were definitely angled more dramatically before. The dream that woke you is already fading, just scraps of memory from earlier today coming back together to make a haze of blood and sharp claws lunging at you from dark corners. You shudder, making to roll over, but there's a weight around your middle that's stopping you.

... oh.

Somehow, in the last few hours, Toko's draped one arm loosely around you, and shifted so that her head is pressed against the back of your shoulder. She makes a low, vague noise when you move, and you freeze, not wanting to wake her. Slowly, you relax back into the position you were sleeping in, letting your head drop onto the pillow. It's just because you don't want to deal with accidentally waking her, you tell yourself. Definitely just that.

Still, you can't help the way you're smiling, even as you drift off again.

**Author's Note:**

> "there's no way I want to kiss this girl, I just keep thinking about how cute she is for totally platonic reasons" — komaru, probably


End file.
